Source: Team_Talk
Boyd: Scotland missed 'leader' Weir
Weir was a surprise omission from George Burley's squad for Wednesday night's disastrous qualifier in Norway after the Scotland boss admitted he wanted to give younger players a chance.
However, Boyd believes the 39-year-old central defender's experience could have been crucial in Oslo after the home nation ran riot with a 4-0 World Cup qualifying victory which places a huge question mark over the Scots' ability to qualify for South Africa through the play-offs.
With Gary Caldwell suspended for the next game against Macedonia and Steven Caldwell, Christophe Berra and Stephen McManus all nursing injuries, Burley has hinted that Weir could be back in his plans for next month's double-header, which also sees Scotland host group winners Holland.
And, as far as Boyd is concerned, the Rangers captain's importance to the cause in those two crunch matches cannot be emphasised enough.
"He would be massively important," said the Ibrox striker.
"When you look at the game last night, I think he was missed. You have seen what has done for Rangers over the last couple years.
"He is a leader. Looking back, I think Scotland could have done with him last night.
"He is so clever upstairs and he knows the game inside out and he gets away with it every week.
"He has looked after himself and he has done really well in his career. I wouldn't be surprised if he is still going for another two or three years yet.
"When you see someone who is as old as the coaches still playing, you can only dream of being there yourself one day. He is a leader and everybody looks up to him."
Boyd informed the Scottish Football Association he no longer wished to be considered for selection while Burley is boss after he was left on the bench for the goalless stalemate with Norway at Hampden last October.
And the striker refused to be drawn on whether he would be willing to make a shock comeback in a bid to boost the nation's qualification hopes.
"It was a disappointing result for Scotland last night and I think the whole nation is hurting," he said.
"But we need to pick ourselves up and go again for the last two games.
"It's the same for me as it is for everyone else. You want your country to win and you are hurting as well.
"When a score like that comes through you are obviously disappointed. But we will rise again one day."
As for Scotland's participation at the World Cup finals, he admitted: "It's certainly going to be difficult. But you never know in football."
Meanwhile, Scott McDonald has backed Celtic team-mate Caldwell to bounce back from the red card which sparked Scotland's downfall.
"Of course he will," said McDonald. "He has a week to think about
it, I suppose, because he is suspended for the weekend.
"We will miss him and hopefully we will have enough centre-halves to play at the weekend. He will be a huge miss, he was massive for us last year."
While most Scotland fans will struggle to find any positives from the debacle in Oslo, McDonald believes the sight of Scott Brown back in action following ankle surgery was certainly a boost for Celtic ahead of their SPL opener at Aberdeen.
He said: "He was our player of the year last year so it's a massive boost for Celtic and for Scotland.
"Unfortunately, it didn't work out for them last night but he is going to be a big player for the future for both hopefully.
"I'm sure he will be in contention to play against Aberdeen and hopefully he can play for us on Saturday because he is a massive influence."
